In a conventional braking system, even when improved by the anti-skidding principle, actuation of the braking control by the driver brings all of the wheel brakes into play simultaneously, even if the desired deceleration is small.
It is known that carbon has better anti-wear performance than conventional friction materials for brakes that bring into play large amounts of energy or large quantities of power per unit area.
Unfortunately, it has been observed that if good solid lubrication conditions have not had time to become established, as happens with low-power braking bringing small quantities of energy into play, the relative performance of carbon is greatly reduced.
It has also been observed that the temperature of the carbon at the moment when braking takes place has an influence on the way its performance is degraded at low power or energy. It is desirable for its temperature to be greater than about 100.degree. C. at the beginning of braking.
Finally, it is known that above 600.degree. C. carbon performance is degraded by oxidation.
An object of the present invention is to mitigate these drawbacks, and the invention relates to a system that optimizes the use of multiple brakes so that they operate as often as possible under optimum temperature conditions, thereby avoiding any excessive wear. The said system also makes it possible to avoid excessive brake heating.